Shepherd Center provides assistance from vocational rehabilitation case managers after rehabilitation for a spinal cord or brain injury. They assist clients in returning to their previous jobs, pursuing new employment options or preparing them for employment in the future. Case managers make recommendations and help implement workplace accommodations to support the client’s independence and autonomy.
Additionally, case managers educate employers and help manage clients’ disability benefits whether it’s through Social Security or their own long term disability plans.
In today’s broadcast, Shepherd vocational specialist and peer support liaison Zachary Bradley discusses workplace accessibility for people with disabilities.
Selected Podcast
Disability Employment and Accessibility in the Workplace
Featured Speaker:
Zachary Bradley
Zachary Bradley is a vocational specialist and peer support liaison at Shepherd Center. He sustained a spinal cord injury in May 2011 when a tree fell on his car during a thunderstorm. After several months at Shepherd Center, he returned to Clayton State University, where he was a freshman attending on a basketball scholarship. He graduated with a degree in health and fitness management in 2014 and completed a master’s degree in clinical rehabilitation counseling at Georgia State University in 2017. He has shared his stories and tips for those who want to return to school and work to Shepherd Center patients for the past two years, first as a volunteer peer mentor and now as a staff member. Transcription:
Disability Employment and Accessibility in the Workplace
Melanie Cole (Host): So much has improved over the past few decades for Americans with disabilities. In general, the public has become more aware that people with disabilities deserve equal opportunities in society and workplaces. Here to discuss workplace accessibility for people with disabilities is my guest today, Zachary Bradley. He’s a Shepherd Center vocational specialist and peer support liaison. Welcome to the show. Please start for the listeners by telling your story what happened to you and how you came to work at Shepherd Center.
Zachary Bradley (Guest): At the age of 19, I was a freshman at Clayton State University on a basketball scholarship. I was going to pick a friend up from work and unfortunately, we got caught in a terrible thunderstorm on the way home, and a tree decided to fall on my car. I suffered a C6-C7 spinal cord injury and they classified me as a quadriplegic. When you say ‘how did I end up working at Shepherd,’ I guess luck of the draw because I actually did my rehabilitation at the Shepherd Center six years ago once I got injured. After I did my rehabilitation at Shepherd Center, I got out in October of 2011, I was back enrolled in school by January 2012 and once my therapist got word of that, they wanted me to come back and talk to some patients about my recovery process and my decision making to go back. I ended up volunteering as a peer support liaison. Here at Shepherd, our peer support program would not work without our volunteers. As the years have gone by, a position on staff opened up and I was fortunate enough to be brought on staff.
Melanie: How do you think opportunities for people with disabilities have changed in the past decade or so? Have you noticed that the public is more aware or that people are more receptive to hearing about disability awareness?
Zachary: We’re talking about the ADA. We talk about something that when it’s a place well before I got injured. I am new to the whole disability world in the grand scope of things, but what I can say is that when we talk about disabilities and employment and accommodations, but it’s more frequent to be talking about it, or it’s something that people are used to at this point. Even when we talk about disability awareness in general, now you watch commercials, then you actually see people in chairs in commercials, which in my lifetime, that wasn’t the case prior to the last five to six years.
Melanie: What do you see for people with disabilities reentering the workplace? Where do you think the biggest challenges still lie?
Zachary: I think one of the biggest things is mostly physical access, so depending on what job or what interests individuals have, can they do the job with their functional limitations, is the employment unsuitable for people in a wheelchair or any other disability. When we talk about individuals who are blind, can they navigate an employment site adequately? I think the biggest thing is once you start with physical access and knocking down those walls, then you go to attitudinal barriers just between working with employers and having them understand a person’s disability, understanding their strengths, and not so much looking at their limitations and how you can really grasp those strengths to allow those people to flourish in employment.
Melanie: As a vocational specialist, are you finding that companies are generally receptive to hiring people with disabilities or getting them back into the workplace?
Zachary: Yes, especially when it’s about getting back to the workplace. Most employers want their employees to come back to work, especially if they're on short-term disability insurance or long-term disability insurance. Usually in these situations, these employers are doing everything they can to help their employees get back to work, so they're asking ‘what type of accommodations do they need, when is it suitable for this person to go back to work, what do we need to do in that workplace to help these individuals get back to work?’ When we talk about just in general employers looking for people with disabilities, I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions that I've learned is I don’t think the employers are specifically looking for people with disabilities. They're looking for qualified individuals to come in to fill whatever occupations they have or people with disabilities will be included in the job employment pool if they're applying. I think often times when I work with individuals, they're saying ‘who’s hiring people with disabilities?’ Everybody is hiring people with disabilities; you just have to have the necessary credentials or the necessary job experience to make you a suitable employee for that job.
Melanie: That’s a good point. How do you feel technology is making is more accessible for people with disabilities to work, like accessible technology and assistive technology? What do you see?
Zachary: With assistive technology, I see that people who probably wouldn’t be able to do certain jobs now being able to because technology has allowed that to happen. We can even use myself, for example. As a quadriplegic, I have full use of my arms but I don’t have finger functions or the finger dexterity to be able to write on paper as effectively as most. Just a simple use of an iPad or a computer makes me able to email, it allows me to document and make notes about the cases that I'm saying. Something as small as giving me a tablet or a computer allows me to be able to work as a counselor and do all the things that other counselors do but may do it on pen and paper. That’s my example but on a broader spectrum, assistive technology has made it super possible for people to be able to work the jobs that they probably wouldn’t have been able to do without the technology.
Melanie: It really is quite amazing, isn't it? What do you want companies to know? What are some steps that they should take to make sure that they're compliant with the accessibility for candidates and about the Americans with Disabilities Act?
Zachary: I think that when we talk about the ADA, jobs have certain standards that they have to upkeep about having individuals with disabilities on staff. I think that they're looking to fulfill those needs, I think they should seek community resources. One of the resources that I use often is vocational rehab. Vocational rehab is a nationwide agency, so there's one in every state and in multiple cities throughout each state, and I think that employers should connect with these local vocational rehabilitation offices so they can further assist one another and hire employees.
Melanie: When you're working with patients, what steps do you tell them to take to better prepare for interviews and to hold down a good job that they really enjoy?
Zachary: First, I’ll definitely talk about, especially for our patients, optimizing their health, making sure that they're ready physically to take on work. One of the biggest things I’d like to talk is about gradually returning to work or gradually returning to school because often times, if you have a 40 hour per week job, after a disability, it wouldn’t be the best recommendation to try to go in at that right away, trying to do it gradually over some time so that you can feel confident in the job you're doing and understanding your job under your new limitations. I'm acting to reach out to a local vocational rehabilitation agency just because those individuals have rehab technicians who work inside their agency that could help these individuals go to their job or go to their place of employment and help them navigate ergonomically ways so they can be effective at their jobs. Those are usually the steps I take when talking to a patient.
Melanie: Wrap it up for us if you would about your position as a vocational specialist and peer support liaison for the Shepherd Center and what you want listeners to know about the abilities and the accessibility for people with disabilities to get back into the workplace.
Zachary: I think the biggest thing is that it’s important, especially for our health and well-being, and that’s if you look at my entire job description between peer liaison and vocational specialist, is helping individuals reintegrate into the community and how can I help them reintegrate into the community, knocking down those physical barriers or knocking down those attitudes or barriers so that these people can go on after acquiring an injury and living a successful life. Even for individuals who have congenital disabilities, we’ll talk about how can we make it possible for these individuals to go out in the community and live a satisfying life. I think for me it’s always trying to put the right resources in place so that these people can do that.
Melanie: Thank you so much for sharing your inspiring story and for all the work that you do on behalf of Shepherd Center. This is Shepherd Center Radio. For more information, please visit shepherd.org. That’s shepherd.org. I'm Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
Disability Employment and Accessibility in the Workplace
Melanie Cole (Host): So much has improved over the past few decades for Americans with disabilities. In general, the public has become more aware that people with disabilities deserve equal opportunities in society and workplaces. Here to discuss workplace accessibility for people with disabilities is my guest today, Zachary Bradley. He’s a Shepherd Center vocational specialist and peer support liaison. Welcome to the show. Please start for the listeners by telling your story what happened to you and how you came to work at Shepherd Center.
Zachary Bradley (Guest): At the age of 19, I was a freshman at Clayton State University on a basketball scholarship. I was going to pick a friend up from work and unfortunately, we got caught in a terrible thunderstorm on the way home, and a tree decided to fall on my car. I suffered a C6-C7 spinal cord injury and they classified me as a quadriplegic. When you say ‘how did I end up working at Shepherd,’ I guess luck of the draw because I actually did my rehabilitation at the Shepherd Center six years ago once I got injured. After I did my rehabilitation at Shepherd Center, I got out in October of 2011, I was back enrolled in school by January 2012 and once my therapist got word of that, they wanted me to come back and talk to some patients about my recovery process and my decision making to go back. I ended up volunteering as a peer support liaison. Here at Shepherd, our peer support program would not work without our volunteers. As the years have gone by, a position on staff opened up and I was fortunate enough to be brought on staff.
Melanie: How do you think opportunities for people with disabilities have changed in the past decade or so? Have you noticed that the public is more aware or that people are more receptive to hearing about disability awareness?
Zachary: We’re talking about the ADA. We talk about something that when it’s a place well before I got injured. I am new to the whole disability world in the grand scope of things, but what I can say is that when we talk about disabilities and employment and accommodations, but it’s more frequent to be talking about it, or it’s something that people are used to at this point. Even when we talk about disability awareness in general, now you watch commercials, then you actually see people in chairs in commercials, which in my lifetime, that wasn’t the case prior to the last five to six years.
Melanie: What do you see for people with disabilities reentering the workplace? Where do you think the biggest challenges still lie?
Zachary: I think one of the biggest things is mostly physical access, so depending on what job or what interests individuals have, can they do the job with their functional limitations, is the employment unsuitable for people in a wheelchair or any other disability. When we talk about individuals who are blind, can they navigate an employment site adequately? I think the biggest thing is once you start with physical access and knocking down those walls, then you go to attitudinal barriers just between working with employers and having them understand a person’s disability, understanding their strengths, and not so much looking at their limitations and how you can really grasp those strengths to allow those people to flourish in employment.
Melanie: As a vocational specialist, are you finding that companies are generally receptive to hiring people with disabilities or getting them back into the workplace?
Zachary: Yes, especially when it’s about getting back to the workplace. Most employers want their employees to come back to work, especially if they're on short-term disability insurance or long-term disability insurance. Usually in these situations, these employers are doing everything they can to help their employees get back to work, so they're asking ‘what type of accommodations do they need, when is it suitable for this person to go back to work, what do we need to do in that workplace to help these individuals get back to work?’ When we talk about just in general employers looking for people with disabilities, I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions that I've learned is I don’t think the employers are specifically looking for people with disabilities. They're looking for qualified individuals to come in to fill whatever occupations they have or people with disabilities will be included in the job employment pool if they're applying. I think often times when I work with individuals, they're saying ‘who’s hiring people with disabilities?’ Everybody is hiring people with disabilities; you just have to have the necessary credentials or the necessary job experience to make you a suitable employee for that job.
Melanie: That’s a good point. How do you feel technology is making is more accessible for people with disabilities to work, like accessible technology and assistive technology? What do you see?
Zachary: With assistive technology, I see that people who probably wouldn’t be able to do certain jobs now being able to because technology has allowed that to happen. We can even use myself, for example. As a quadriplegic, I have full use of my arms but I don’t have finger functions or the finger dexterity to be able to write on paper as effectively as most. Just a simple use of an iPad or a computer makes me able to email, it allows me to document and make notes about the cases that I'm saying. Something as small as giving me a tablet or a computer allows me to be able to work as a counselor and do all the things that other counselors do but may do it on pen and paper. That’s my example but on a broader spectrum, assistive technology has made it super possible for people to be able to work the jobs that they probably wouldn’t have been able to do without the technology.
Melanie: It really is quite amazing, isn't it? What do you want companies to know? What are some steps that they should take to make sure that they're compliant with the accessibility for candidates and about the Americans with Disabilities Act?
Zachary: I think that when we talk about the ADA, jobs have certain standards that they have to upkeep about having individuals with disabilities on staff. I think that they're looking to fulfill those needs, I think they should seek community resources. One of the resources that I use often is vocational rehab. Vocational rehab is a nationwide agency, so there's one in every state and in multiple cities throughout each state, and I think that employers should connect with these local vocational rehabilitation offices so they can further assist one another and hire employees.
Melanie: When you're working with patients, what steps do you tell them to take to better prepare for interviews and to hold down a good job that they really enjoy?
Zachary: First, I’ll definitely talk about, especially for our patients, optimizing their health, making sure that they're ready physically to take on work. One of the biggest things I’d like to talk is about gradually returning to work or gradually returning to school because often times, if you have a 40 hour per week job, after a disability, it wouldn’t be the best recommendation to try to go in at that right away, trying to do it gradually over some time so that you can feel confident in the job you're doing and understanding your job under your new limitations. I'm acting to reach out to a local vocational rehabilitation agency just because those individuals have rehab technicians who work inside their agency that could help these individuals go to their job or go to their place of employment and help them navigate ergonomically ways so they can be effective at their jobs. Those are usually the steps I take when talking to a patient.
Melanie: Wrap it up for us if you would about your position as a vocational specialist and peer support liaison for the Shepherd Center and what you want listeners to know about the abilities and the accessibility for people with disabilities to get back into the workplace.
Zachary: I think the biggest thing is that it’s important, especially for our health and well-being, and that’s if you look at my entire job description between peer liaison and vocational specialist, is helping individuals reintegrate into the community and how can I help them reintegrate into the community, knocking down those physical barriers or knocking down those attitudes or barriers so that these people can go on after acquiring an injury and living a successful life. Even for individuals who have congenital disabilities, we’ll talk about how can we make it possible for these individuals to go out in the community and live a satisfying life. I think for me it’s always trying to put the right resources in place so that these people can do that.
Melanie: Thank you so much for sharing your inspiring story and for all the work that you do on behalf of Shepherd Center. This is Shepherd Center Radio. For more information, please visit shepherd.org. That’s shepherd.org. I'm Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.